So I guess the trick would be to get them to produce a Class A Service Jacket/Tunic/Blouse in a matching color and material.

If CAP were to adopt it, I'm sure that Blauer would see the profit in producing them.

Are you sure? Ever hear of economy of scale? I'm going to use a nice round, but unrealistic, number to demonstrate. It's 60,000 as the membership number, and disregards gender.

You're talking about producing uniforms to fit 60,000 members in, oh, let's say, 100 sizes. That's likely a low estimate. That's an initial outfitting of 6,00 units per size. That's a drop in the bucket, and might not worth spending the startup costs for adding something new to their line.

Regular, daily wear, users might wear out a uniform in as little as a year, so there's continuous throughput in sales. CAP members wear their stuff about once a week, and if this is a dress uniform, might be worn as little as once a month. Once the initial run is sold off, the sales will drop off. That's not a good business model.

Aaah, but there's already a widely-distributed and well-sold khaki service coat on the market already.

The Navy's.

All we have to do is change the buttons out and... ta-da. There we go. And it's already the same shade as the tunic and pants that the Navy uses.

Even the Navy Chiefs and officers aren't wild about wearing that thing.

Another consideration - do they make this coat in 12 yo sizes?

My intent was for it to be a Senior member only uniform and for the cadets to continue to wear the USAF Style uniforms.

BUT

If the cadets were to switch to khaki as well, that would increase the numbers of buyers and that "might" effect Biauer's willingness to produce a siver-tan Service coat to match the shirts and trousers they already produce.

OOPS! Now you've dropped the numbers in half, and the number of sizes by about a third. Let's say 60 sizes. That's now just 500 uniforms in each size. 30,000 uniforms isn't going to get anything more than a giggle from the manufacturer. They probably won't agree to using a Navy item as is, because of existing regs, so something would need to be modified, changing it into a new product.

While we're at it, how about rank insignia, especially the NCOs? For officers, the grey stuff won't work as-is, because the shirt and coat designs differ from what the AF uses.

OOPS! Now you've dropped the numbers in half, and the number of sizes by about a third. Let's say 60 sizes. That's now just 500 uniforms in each size. 30,000 uniforms isn't going to get anything more than a giggle from the manufacturer. They probably won't agree to using a Navy item as is, because of existing regs, so something would need to be modified, changing it into a new product.

While we're at it, how about rank insignia, especially the NCOs? For officers, the grey stuff won't work as-is, because the shirt and coat designs differ from what the AF uses.

You didn't read the other thread did you?

As to rank, the current blue chevrons would go right onto the proposed khaki uniform, again part of the USAF Blue "highlights" to the uniform (IE Blue flight caps and/or combination cap, blue tie, blue belts).

If pin-on rank is used, no issues, just pin it on and for the service coat, pin on would be the insignia used.

As to the shirts, if you carefully undo the X-stitch on the shirt epaulets, normal military rank slides will fit on them without issue. Our LTs at the VA use Army 1LT shoulder slides on their shirts and they fit fine. So using current USAF Blue rank slides would be an option and would add another USAF Blue highlight.

If Ma Blue has an issue, pretty sure Vanguard will have khaki rank slides ready in two shakes of a dragons tail.

personally I like old school, pin-on rank on right shirt collar and pin-on C.A.P. on left collar for Officers and sleeve rank and disc C.A.P. on both shirt collars for NCOs.

Silver name tag on service coat and old school two-line blue plastic name tag on shirts (another USAF Blue highlight).

Orrrr...Since we're already designing a new Senior Member only uniform with no real purpose, why don't we go with something that everyone should already have in the back of their closet or something that they can easily pick up at someplace like Sears/Wal-Mart/Target. I'm thinking a white shirt with some kind of dress pants, grey is pretty common. Oh, and for a dress uniform, just throw on a blue blazer.

Logged

If you are confident in you abilities and experience, whether someone else is impressed is irrelevant. - Eclipse

Could we possibly lose the old US Army nameplate on this then? You know, the big black one with pins stuck in it? Do we need the Wing on it still, and the old CAP crest (which is larger directly underneath in the Blazer)?

It made sense when would could/would wear the nameplate on the white shirt by itself, but now that is out...Just looks odd.